Sandwich
by MeredithBrody
Summary: Brody brings Pride a sandwich, and he has to think about exactly what all of this means. Both personally and regarding the case. (Episode extension for 1x17/Prody)


**So this scene would not leave me alone (nor any of the Prody shippers, I think) and I had to write it out fully. SO. Enjoy. As always, please read and review. Dialogue directly taken from the episode.  
Shin xx**

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He felt her come in the door and, the truth was, he was glad she was there. He didn't know what was going on with them, but when he'd finally listened to her voicemails he'd realised that there was a lot of worry on her end he didn't think there would be if it was anyone else. He knew if she suddenly disappeared off the grid he wouldn't stop until he found her again. So now she was there, and he could tell just from her perfume. Lilac and vanilla. He'd recognise it anywhere. The problem was he didn't know, really, what to say. So he kept it to the case. "Seven minutes."

"Excuse me?" She just started moving more into the room, and he just kept playing the melody he'd been thinking about. It wasn't really anything specific, there were influences, and it sounded a little like a song he'd learnt to play as a child, but that was really all there was to it. Otherwise he was just distracting himself, and failing at it.

"The US attorney told me he'd close the deal in 20 minutes, and that was 13 minutes ago." He'd had to check his phone, but that was the time he'd expected. He'd escaped up to his room a while ago. Not wanting to keep working in the office, not wanting Christopher to keep telling him that they were on the right track. Sitting and playing his piano would be the easiest way for him to back away in his mind and try to work this out objectively. It hadn't really helped so far, but it was worth a try again. Brody, clearly, had seen through it, and decided to come and check on him again.

"I brought you a sandwich." She stepped right up beside him and presented it down to him. For some reason that tiny thing was enough to cause all of his emotions to run away from him again. He'd been dancing around the subject of Brody in his mind for weeks, if not months now, and he'd never come up with a good answer about how she had worked her way in so deeply in such a short amount of time. The fact she was so worried about him was certainly showing him one reason. She just cared, deeply.

He shook his head knowing that his oldest friend would no doubt been the one to tell Brody about his not eating. But Loretta would never have tried to make him eat, so he was surprised Brody was here with that. Maybe he shouldn't have been, after those calls. He should have known. "Been talking to Loretta, huh?" He asked, even though they both knew the answer to that was yes. He took the plate off her and stood up from the piano, putting it down on his table then looking at the wall he knew had tipped his agents off. "Sophie Brooks was 9 years old when Baitfish killed her. That's on me, I own that." He could feel her eyes on him rather than the wall, but he knew that she understood. She'd lived with a similar obsession for a similar length of time. Hers had come with a body count too. Christopher may have known him longer, but in this, Brody could understand him better. "Every life he's taken since. Trevor Walker, Allison LaCroy, Lester DelRay, Brendan Harvey, the Doctor, Pam Shore." His eyes were drawn to one that haunted him, the one they'd never learnt the name of. "A transient, we don't even know his name."

"Calvin Trask." He looked at her in surprise, they'd been searching for weeks for a name, how did she suddenly have one right when he needed it most. "I asked Wade to forward the remains to a friend of mine who worked at the FBI lab in Quantico. Specialising in biometric analysis." He wondered how she'd gotten that done, but then again, he knew she could be persuasive when she wanted to be. He was about to thank her when she continued talking. "I'm not LaSalle... I." Whatever she was about to say, she faltered, and maybe went in a bit of a different direction. He didn't know, but still that she was there, what she'd done, it meant a lot to him. "You and I don't share any kind of past. But I want you to know, I got your back."

He stared at her for a second and took a breath in. Wanting to tell her everything that was running through his mind, but as he opened his mouth he knew that was a bad idea. So he closed it again and thought of something better to say. "I know that." Oh how he wanted to kiss her right then. Tell her that he'd known that since the day she'd arrived, and that it would always and forever be a mutual feeling. He would always have her back, just like she had his. They had been through a lot together in the short amount of time they'd known each other. He also faltered though, and rubbed her arm instead. Moving past her a little more into the room. Just needing to step away before temptation got the better of him.

"And I'm not leaving until you eat half of that sandwich." She knew, somehow, he could tell. But she was also trying to be normal. There was nobody in the world who would do that other than Linda and Laurel. The fact that Brody was trying to make him eat, trying to pull him out of this obsessive episode back into their family spoke a lot about her, and about them.

"You really want me to eat something? Bologna's what they give you in central booking." He just looked at her again, taking in her smile and the miniscule rise of her shoulders. He kept looking at her until his cell broke the silence. If this was the deal then so much was sorted, and he could start thinking about moving on. As it was, it was a call that changed everything. Again he could feel her eyes on his back, and this time he knew that she was just going to be swept up in all this madness too.


End file.
